


No Good Deed

by lotus0kid



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Disguise, F/M, Hero Rumplestiltskin Mr Gold, Slow Burn, Undercover
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-10-26 20:50:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17753288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lotus0kid/pseuds/lotus0kid
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin in disguise as the golden knight of legend Sir Stilzchen finds himself defending Belle’s village from ogres as he works to discover what his seer's sight is telling him about the noble lady.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [A Golden Mask](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10780518) by [lotus0kid](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lotus0kid/pseuds/lotus0kid). 



> Happy seventh anniversary, Rumbelle fans! This is the first bit of my new long fic. I'll probably post a couple more chapters in the coming weeks, like last year. Fingers crossed it won't take me until October to finish the rest this time.

Belle digs through piles of books, fear numbing her fingers as she desperately scans titles.  Each one she’s abandoning adds a crack to her heart, but if she must choose, there is only one she will save.

Somewhere in the distance she hears her mother tell a soldier, “Take these trunks to the carriage.  I’ll be just behind you.”

“And your daughter?”

“I will find her.  Now go.”  Colette calls, “Darling, we must leave quickly!  Where are you?”

The beloved title finally appears on a worn cover.  Belle snatches the book up and runs to her mother.  “I’m right here!  I’m sorry, but I couldn’t leave without _Her Handsome_ -”

A terrible roar vibrates into the marrow of Belle’s bones.  She and Colette freeze in place.

With the only air she can force through her terror-choked throat, she says, “They’re here.”

In the next second the library doors smash open, and in the second that follows Belle and Colette cower under a table, clinging to each other as massive, gray-skinned, mud-splattered feet stomp inside.  Belle squeezes her eyes shut as burning tears spill down her cheeks.  This is it.  This is how it ends.  Her life, her mother’s life.  Their hopes and dreams.  Sweet memories and minor annoyances.  Everything they are or might have been reduced to two bodies, crushed and savaged by a brutal invader.  And they will never understand _why_.

“Ho there, you beast!”

Belle’s eyes pop open as she registers the unknown male voice.  She peeks over Colette’s shoulder to see two new feet, these clad in golden armor.  She leans back to see confusion and desperate hope at war in her mother's eyes before tucking her head against Colette’s chest again, waiting to find out if rescue has arrived or if their doom has only been delayed.

Battle ensues as bellows riot around the room, accompanied by human grunts, metallic clangs, and a few wet slices.  Belle hears a loud scrape of wood and a clattering flutter of falling books that’s followed by a flash of white light.  The ogre roars again, and there is pain mixed with its mindless rage.  More awful wet sounds come, and the roars become pitiful whimpers.  Belle fights the urge to climb out and order the man to stop, to spare the injured creature.  She knows this ogre will not stop, not until it’s dead.  It can’t help itself, she believes.  So she closes her eyes, and cringes against a gurgle and a heavy thud that shakes the floor and marks the end of the attack.

Colette’s trembling sigh breaks the stillness that follows.  Belle leans back again to lay a hand on her mother’s cheek and attempt a smile.

“Hello?” the man calls, “My ladies?  Are you still living?”

“Y-yes,” Belle replies weakly.  Colette reluctantly loosens her grip to allow Belle to crawl out from under the table, and follows close behind.

A gauntlet smeared with the ogre’s brownish blood appears in front of Belle.  She takes it and climbs to her feet while her gaze moves over the ruined library, ending on the hulking corpse of its defiler.  She turns her attention to helping Colette up.

Her mother is shaky, but manages a curtsey Belle barely remembers to mimic in the general direction of their rescuer.  The man, a knight presumably, bows in return, opening his visor as he straightens to reveal a tanned face with a narrow nose, a wide mouth, and deep brown eyes.  “My ladies, I trust you are unharmed?”

“We are, sir, thanks to you,” Colette responds, then pauses, squinting slightly.  “Are you… Sir Stilzchen, the golden knight, loyal to no king but a hero to all?”

Belle blinks, gaze jumping between Colette and their savior, who gives a bashful grin.  “So the poets tell me.”

“My goodness…” Colette breathes, while Belle frowns.

“Who?”

A look of exasperation flashes over her mother’s face.  “Come now, Belle, I’m certain there’s a book of Sir Stilzchen’s adventures somewhere in your collection.  Perhaps I read them to you as a… as a child...”

The knight seems to tire of their small talk, taking a half-step back and announcing, “Right, well, you must return to the castle, eh?  I don’t doubt your lord is half-frantic.”

“Is the danger past?” Belle asks.

“Yes.  There were two more, but they’ve been dealt with.”

“Very well.  Let’s go, Mother.”  Belle keeps a steadying arm around Colette, and vice versa, as they follow Sir Stilzchen from the library, picking their way among broken floorboards and fallen shelves and torn books.  Grief stabs at Belle’s heart, but she carries on.  It’s just a building.  Everything can and will be replaced.  Their troubles will end soon.  If she can just find a way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chucking another chapter up for my personal Rumbelle anniversary. Seven years!

This is a bad time for Rumpelstiltskin to indulge in his little hobby, so close to the casting of his great and terrible curse.  But when rumor came of ogre attacks in the Marshlands, he couldn’t help slipping on his golden mask and exacting a little payback.  The monsters are as hideous and destructive as they were three hundred years ago, and it’s a bitter pleasure to slay them one after another.

And that’s not the only bitter pleasure to be had.  As he steps out of the library with the lady and her daughter, he is greeted by the village’s diminished company of soldiers, all beaming at him under the dirt and blood.  Their captain of the guard Brevet steps forward to sing the usual praises, “Sir Stilzchen, that was incredible.  Truly unbelievable.  We cannot thank you enough for your valor today.”

And Rumpelstiltskin, the Dark One, terror of the realms, the most powerful and evil sorcerer ever known, softly demurs, “Please, it was the least I could do to help.  Think nothing of it.”

“Not at all, our Lord Maurice is demanding your presence in the castle immediately.”

Hm.  Rumpelstiltskin had meant for this to be a brief appearance.  But he supposes it might be fun to watch this nobleman grovel with gratitude, never knowing to whom he truly owes so much.  “Well, I shouldn’t like to disappoint him then.  I will go.”

He is swiftly encircled by the soldiers, the nearest of whom slap his back and shake his hands while others laugh and strike up one of the many songs of Sir Stilzchen’s glory.  A fleeting thought has Rumpelstiltskin glancing over his shoulder where he last saw the ladies.

Brevet is with them, speaking gently to the still unsteady mother.  Meanwhile, the daughter’s bright blue eyes are fixed on Rumpelstiltskin with a measuring, thoughtful gaze.  A thrill of anxiety darts through him, and he wonders if there’s some magic lurking in her that’s detected his mask.  He faces forward, but casts a small searching spell back at her.  He finds nothing, just an ordinary girl.  But it’s possible that she’s smart.  Which could be a problem.

No matter, this will only be a short visit.  He and his fawning entourage carry on toward the stone keep at the top of the hill.  The golden light of evening shows damage left by previous ogre attacks nearly everywhere Rumpelstiltskin looks in the village.  There are even a few gaping holes in the castle itself.  It seems these people have been fending off the invasion for some time, and not faring well.

They’ve just entered when a tall, heavy-set man in a fur-collared cloak rushes forward and through the crowd of soldiers to reach the ladies, sweeping both into his arms and squeezing them tight.  Rumpelstiltskin looks away from the display.  He really has better places to be.  After a moment, he hears a jubilant address, “Sir Stilzchen, I can hardly believe my eyes!”

He turns to find Lord Maurice facing him with both arms draped over the shoulders of his family.  Rumpelstiltskin smiles and bows.  “Believe them, my lord.  I was simply passing by and thought to offer some aid.”

Maurice nods, the shine of elation in his face dimming to mere happiness.  “And so you did.  Indeed you could’ve hardly chosen a better moment.  I’m sure you notice that we are sorely beset by these godsdamned ogres.  This is the fourth attack in half as many months, and spring is barely begun!”

“I am sorry to hear that, my lord.”

“Happily our fate is not yet sealed.  We await King Xavier’s army.  They should arrive before autumn, gods willing.”

A somber note in his voice is reflected in every face that bears the contemplation of a hard summer ahead.  “Gods willing,” Rumpelstiltskin echoes faintly.

“You know, since you, ah... find yourself in the area…”  Maurice swallows, and then sinks to his knees.  The wife and daughter blink at him.  He catches their hands and tugs.  The former kneels quickly.  The latter requires a few more tugs before kneeling as well, though she casts her gaze to a far corner of the hall.  “I, Lord Maurice of Collioure, my wife, Lady Colette, and our daughter, Lady Belle, beseech you, Sir Stilzchen, to continue protecting our village until the forces of our king arrive to relieve you.”

Rumpelstiltskin inhales a breath to refuse at the same instant his seer’s sight thrums through his brain.  He can’t stay.  Sir Stilzchen appears, completes the day’s feat of gallantry, _perhaps_ attends a feast in his honor, and then vanishes, long before anyone can suspect a thing.  And so he’s maintained this illusion for decades.  On the other hand, he is hardly ever given so definite a sign that he’s encountered something of significance.  He can still feel it reverberating in his skull.  He can’t stay.  He _must_ stay.

His eyes wander over the noble family.  Maurice and Colette wear similar pleading looks, nothing of interest there.  But the daughter, Belle- his seer’s sight thrums again, in a new chord.  Perhaps she looks like an ordinary girl, blankly staring at anything that isn’t him, but Rumpelstiltskin would bet his blackened heart that she is not.  And there is only one way to discover what makes her so.

He clears his throat and declares, “I, Sir Stilzchen, accept your request.  Collioure shall have my unwavering protection until such a time as it can be provided by the army of King Xavier.  This I vow.”

A cheer flies up from all assembled.  Even Belle gives some perfunctory claps while she and her family stand up.

“Now, now, no need to applaud,” comes a smooth, deep voice from over Rumpelstiltskin’s shoulder.  A man in spotlessly gleaming armor steps into the center of the crowd, declaring, “I am ready for battle.  Direct me to the ogres.”

Belle cocks an eyebrow.  “The ogres have been defeated, Sir Gaston.  By Sir Stilzchen.”

She nods to Rumpelstiltskin, and Gaston whips around.  His winning smile drops into gape-mouthed shock.  “It _can’t_ be…” he breathes.

“It is,” Rumpelstiltskin replies while pinned under Gaston’s heavy stare.  He finds himself glancing toward Belle, but she simply watches with mild interest.

The knight inches closer, and closer, then his hands dart out and grab one of Rumpelstiltskin’s, pumping it so enthusiastically he almost loses his footing.  “Gods above, I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was a boy!  _The_ Sir Stilzchen, the Light One, the wandering legend!  I can’t believe this is happening!”

A hint of mania has infected Gaston’s eyes.  Rumpelstiltskin recoils even as he tries to smile.  “That’s very nice.  Yes.  Thank you.”

Maurice approaches, setting both hands on Gaston’s shoulders and easing him back, which mercifully leads him to release his iron grip.  “That’s right, we’re all excited to meet Sir Stilzchen.  I’m certain you’ll get to know each other very well, as he has agreed to stay and protect Collioure until the army’s arrival.”

Several emotions flicker across Gaston’s chiseled face, ending in a kind of hard determination.  “Yes.  Yes, we will.”

Rumpelstiltskin swallows dryly.  What by all the gods has he gotten himself into?  Again, he looks to Belle.  She appears to be suppressing laughter.  _You’d better make this worth my while, girl._


End file.
